"Veronica and Mr. Kelly are such good friends," said Diana. "It would be too bad not to ask her."
"Mr. Kelly is Mr. Barrison's accompanist," put in Mrs. Wilbur.
"Barrison?" repeated Mr. Wilbur. "Isn't that the name of the husky I met on the road just now?" The speaker removed his cigar to ask his daughter the question.
"Yes, Mamma, Mr. Barrison came up to take me down to row out in Mr. Kelly's boat to see the stranger in the cove. So when we encountered Daddy on the road, I persuaded him to give them an order to go over the yacht."
In spite of herself, the missing color came back into the girl's cheeks while she related this, and Charles Wilbur, whom no circumstance connected with his daughter ever escaped, observed it.
When next he was alone with his wife, he asked a few questions as to Diana's regard for the singer.
"No, no, my dear," she returned scornfully. "You don't know Diana. We have an extraordinary daughter, there is no mistake about that, but she was telling me the other day of her ideal for a husband. He is a fright, I can assure you, but full of charm and all that. She doesn't want to marry any man who is attractive to women."
"Wants to fool the vamps, eh?" was the laughing reply.